title: Woven silk fabric-reinforced silk nanofibrous scaffolds for regenerating load-bearing soft tissues.
abstract: Although three-dimensional (3-D) porous regenerated silk scaffolds with outstanding biocompatibility, biodegradability and low inflammatory reactions have promising application in different tissue regeneration, the mechanical properties of regenerated scaffolds, especially suture retention strength, must be further improved to satisfy the requirements of clinical applications. This study presents woven silk fabric-reinforced silk nanofibrous scaffolds aimed at dermal tissue engineering. To improve the mechanical properties, silk scaffolds prepared by lyophilization were reinforced with degummed woven silk fabrics. The ultimate tensile strength, elongation at break and suture retention strength of the scaffolds were significantly improved, providing suitable mechanical properties strong enough for clinical applications. The stiffness and degradation behaviors were then further regulated by different after-treatment processes, making the scaffolds more suitable for dermal tissue regeneration. The in vitro cell culture results indicated that these scaffolds maintained their excellent biocompatibility after being reinforced with woven silk fabrics. Without sacrifice of porous structure and biocompatibility, the fabric-reinforced scaffolds with better mechanical properties could facilitate future clinical applications of silk as matrices in skin repair.
authors.affiliation: National Engineering Laboratory for Modern Silk, College of Textile and Clothing Engineering, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, China; Key Lab of Rubber-Plastics (QUST), Ministry of Education, College of Polymer Science and Engineering, Qingdao University of Science and Technology, Qingdao 266042, China.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Han
authors.affiliation: National Engineering Laboratory for Modern Silk, College of Textile and Clothing Engineering, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, China.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: National Engineering Laboratory for Modern Silk, College of Textile and Clothing Engineering, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, China.
authors.forename: X
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: National Engineering Laboratory for Modern Silk, College of Textile and Clothing Engineering, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, China.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Pei
authors.affiliation: National Engineering Laboratory for Modern Silk, College of Textile and Clothing Engineering, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, China.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bai
authors.affiliation: National Engineering Laboratory for Modern Silk, College of Textile and Clothing Engineering, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, China.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: National Engineering Laboratory for Modern Silk, College of Textile and Clothing Engineering, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, China. Electronic address: Lvqiang78@suda.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Q
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: Key Lab of Rubber-Plastics (QUST), Ministry of Education, College of Polymer Science and Engineering, Qingdao University of Science and Technology, Qingdao 266042, China. Electronic address: fgma@qust.edu.cn.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Tufts University, Medford, MA 02155, USA.
authors.forename: D L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Kaplan
authors.affiliation: Research Center of Materials Science, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhu
mesh_terms: D000653:Amniotic Fluid / Q000166:cytology; D000818:Animals; D012831:Bombyx; D002460:Cell Line; D006801:Humans; D055595:Mechanical Phenomena; D057139:Nanofibers / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D012038:Regeneration; D047011:Silk / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D017550:Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology; D013314:Stress, Mechanical; D023822:Tissue Engineering / Q000379:methods*; D054457:Tissue Scaffolds / Q000737:chemistry*; D016474:Weight-Bearing; D014961:X-Ray Diffraction
chemical_list: D047011:Silk
keywords: Dermal substitute; Mechanical properties; Scaffolds; Silk; Suture retention